practiced by men. The patterns of work were drawn in books, which, being cut to pieces, were used by women to work upon and transfer to their samplers. The working of flowers was particularly specified; and we find one kind practiced "in the manner of a vineyard."

THE SCHOOLS OF ALFRED.

Such was the state of knowledge in the reign of Alfred the Great-deemed in his time the wisest man in England. Although the son of a king, he was wholly uninstructed until he had reached the age of twelve years, when he was taught in hunting, building, and psalmody. Though he could not read, however, he listened day and night to the verses which were recited by minstrels and glee-men, the masters of Anglo-Saxon song; and a volume of Anglo-Saxon poetry shown to him by his mother, and which became his own as soon as he could read it, so encouraged his love of poetry that he contrived to compose verses at intervals throughout his busy life. The second volume which Alfred obtained was a selection of psalms and daily prayers according to the ancient usage of the church.

Alfred was born at Wantage, on the borders of the Vale of the White Horse, in Berkshire, in 849. As a royal seat, Wantage was, probably, a place of some consequence in the Saxon times; it is conjectured to have been a Roman station, and upon the site of a vallum of this period, the palace in which Alfred was born is supposed to have stood. The event of his birth has been commemorated in a manner worthy of its interest. Wantage had its grammar-school founded in the reign of Elizabeth: it fell into decay, but has been re-founded under the following circumstances. On the 8th of September, 1849, the thousandth anniversary of the birth of Alfred, that event was celebrated in the place of his birth. After divine service in Wantage Church, there were addresses and music in the Town-hall; a procession to "King Alfred's Well;" distribution of food to the poor of Wantage; an ox was roasted whole by the aid of the steam-engine; and a medal (believed to be the only one ever struck in honor of Alfred) was struck for this 'Anglo-Saxon Jubilee." The commemoration took a more permanent form in the following year, 1850, when a fund having been raised in augmentation of the limited sum appropriated for the grammar-school since the reign of Elizabeth, there was laid the first stone of a new school building which has been completed. It is in the Pointed style of the thirteenth century, and accommodates seventy scholars, of which number thirty are boarders. Thus have the Governors of the Wantage Town Lands revived their grammar-school, and provided for the middle classes of their neighborhood a cheap and efficient course of instruction, embracing not only a rudimental acquaintance with the Latin language, but the addition of a sound modern education.

Alfred is related to have never been without a book in his bosom, in which volume he entered any memorable passage which occurred in conversation, until it was entirely full, after which a new book was made, by the advice of Asser, his tutor, and filled with diversified extracts on all subjects; this the King called his Hand-book. Asser wrote the life of Alfred, wherein is a passage which has given rise to a dispute as to the superior antiquity of the schools of Oxford and Cambridge. The authentic proofs of the latter do not extend beyond the seventh century; whilst the evidence of Asser shows that there were public schools at Oxford

at least in the fifth or sixth century; but this evidence is questionable.

The harp at this period was a badge of rank, for, by the British law, a slave might not use it; and no one was esteemed a gentleman unless he possessed a harp, and could play upon it. Alfred's skill in this art led to one of his most brilliant victories. At Eddington, near Hungerford, in Berkshire, in the disguise of a harper, in 878, he visited the Danish camp, and obtained information which enabled him to surprise and entirely defeat the enemy.

We next find Alfred actively engaged in "the diffusion of knowledge" among his people. No Council or Board of Education in our time can have exceeded the zeal of our Anglo-Saxon sovereign of ten centuries since. Alfred addressed to the bishops a circular letter earnestly recommending the translation of "useful books into the language which we all understood; so that all the youth of England, but more especially those who are of gentle kind, and at ease in their circumstances, may be grounded in letters-for they cannot profit in any pursuit until they are well able to read English." Yet, gross was the ignorance of those days. "When I took the kingdom," says Alfred, "very few on this side of the Humber, very few beyond, not one that I could recollect south of the Thames, could understand their prayers in English, or could translate a letter from Latin into English." To supply this deficiency, Alfred employed such scholars as the time afforded; he himself acquired sufficient knowlege of Latin in his thirty-eighth year to translate the only book of Saxon history then extant; he translated other works of great learning, and attempted a complete version of the Bible, the finishing of which was prevented by his early death. He even enforced education by refusing to promote the uneducated, as well as by his own example. He insisted that the "ministers," or the persons whom he employed, should qualify themselves for their office; and in case of non-compliance he rejected them. Aldermen, and mayors, and governors, were compelled to go to school for this late instruction, to them a grievous penance, rather than give up their emoluments and office; and at an advanced period of his reign, Alfred, "the truth-teller," thanked God that those who sat in the chair of the instructor were then capable of teaching.

Alfred is believed to have re-established many of the old monastic and episcopal schools. Asser expressly states that he founded a seminary for sons of the nobility, to the support of which he devoted one-eighth part of his whole revenue. Hither even some noblemen repaired who had far outgrown their youth, but scarcely or not at all begun their acquaintance with books. This school was attended not only by the sons of almost all the

nobility of the realm, but also by many of the inferior classes. It was provided with several masters; and this seminary is maintained by many antiquaries to have been the foundation of the University of Oxford.

Alfred's Schools were intended from the first for every person of rank or substance, who, either from age or want of capacity, was unable to learn or read himself, and who was compelled to send to school either his son or a kinsman, or if he had neither, a servant, that he might at least be read to by some one; for, that rank was no guarantee of learning, we have already seen; and Anglo-Saxon charters exist, which, instead of the names of kings, exhibit their marks, used, as it is frankly explained, in consequence of their ignorance of letters.

The means by which this patriotic King thus benefited his people are preserved to us. He usually divided his time into three equal portions: one was passed in sleep and recruiting his body by diet and exercise; another in the dispatch of business; a third in study and devotion; and that he might the more exactly measure the hours, he employed burning tapers of equal length; for, at this time, we must recollect clocks and watches were unknown. And by such a regular distribution of his time, though he suffered much by illness, Alfred, who fought in person fifty-six battles by sea and land, was able, during a life of no extraordinary length, to acquire more knowledge, and even to compose more books, than studious men, who, in more fortunate ages, have made literature their uninterrupted study. Translations of the Bible were multiplied through Alfred's assiduity; and from this, or the Anglo-Saxon age, down to that of Wickliffe (or, for nearly five centuries), we in England can show such a succession of versions of the Bible in metre, and in prose, as are not to be equaled amongst any other nation in Europe. Alfred is believed to have given a large estate for a single book on a learned subject; a bargain which may have given rise to the saying, "Learning is better than house and land."

Alfred's children, six in number, were taught Anglo-Saxon prose, poetry and psalms. Ethelweard, Alfred's youngest son, received a sort of public education: he was committed to proper teachers, with almost all the noble children of the province, and with many of inferior rank; they were all instructed in Latin and Saxon, and writing; and when their matured age gave the requisite strength, in gymnastics and archery,* as auxiliary to

Roger Ascham (in his Toxophilus) supposes the English to have learned Archery from the Saxons; hence, by the ancient English laws, there is a more severe penalty for hurting the finger, which is necessary for letting the arrow fly, than for the maiming of any of the others. Barrington traces Bow to the German word bogen, and Arrow to the

warlike habits. Nor was Alfred's example lost upon his successors. Wolstan says of Ethelwold-"It was always delightful to him to teach children and youth, and to construe Latin books to them in English, and explain to them the rules of grammar and Latin versification."

ST. DUNSTAN, THE SCHOLAR OF GLASTONBURY.

About six miles from the ancient city of Wells, in Somersetshire, are the picturesque ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, once the richest abbey in the kingdom, and the most magnificent pile of Anglo-Norman ecclesiastical architecture. In the village hard by was born St. Dunstan, A.D. 925. His earliest instruction in the learning of his time he received in the monastery. The place was not then conventually regulated; and thither came chiefly from Ireland many illustrious men versed in sacred and secular science, and there opened schools, admitting the children of the nobility. Among these scholars was St. Dunstan. He applied himself to "the sciences of the philosophers" with uncommon ardor: thus he learned arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Like the prophet David, he would sometimes seize his psaltery, strike the harp, swell the organ, or touch the cymbal.

Upon quitting school, he passed a few years at the court of King Athelstan, when upon some affront, he returned to Glastonbury, and having in early youth received the tonsure there, he built himself a cell or hermitage, with an oratory, and in the intervals of his devotional austerities, employed himself in such manual arts as were useful to the service of the church-in the formation of crosses, vials, censers, vestments, etc.: he could paint, write a beautiful hand, carve figures, and work in gold, silver, brass, or iron; and after Alfred, the liberal arts were much indebted to his zeal: he was altogether one of the most memorable men of his time.

Apart from its interest as an ancient seat of learning, Glastonbury is one of the most hallowed spots in the kingdom; and as the wind sighs through its lone arches and hoary stones, you reflect that here lie the bodies of Joseph of Arimathea, King Edgar, and King Arthur; and numberless martyrs and bishops, and other men of mark. The building which now serves as the George Inn was in the monastic times an hospital for pilgrims to the shrine of St. Joseph. His chapel, and the monastery kitchen, remain.

Saxon apepe. Archery in war seems to have been disused immediately after the Norman Conquest, and to have been revived by the Crusaders: they had, doubtless, felt the effects of it from the Saracens, (who had probably derived it from the Parthians)-Edward I. was wounded by one of their arrows; and in this King's reign was formed a society called the Archers of Finsbury. The same society, having laid aside the bow and a row, became subsequently the Artillery Company of the City of London.

KING CANUTE A POET.

Under the Danish dynasty, little seems to have been done for the promotion of letters, if we except the brilliant example of Canute. He was successful in war; and in peace, humane, gentle, and religious. He was a liberal patron of men of letters: he afforded the amplest encouragement to Scandinavian poetry, and Olenes names eight Danish poets who flourished at his Court. Sir Bulwer Lytton has an ingenious speculation upon the great influence which the poetry of the Danes has had upon our early national muse; and he has little doubt but that to its source may be traced the minstrelsy of our borders, and the Scottish Lowlands; while even in the central counties, the example and exertions of Canute must have had considerable effect upon the taste and spirit of our Scopec. Canute himself, too, was the author of a popular ballad, which long after his death remained a favorite with the people.

The verse that has been preserved of this song composed by Canute as he was one day rowing on the Nen, while the holy music came floating on the air, and along the water from the neighboring minster of Ely-a song which, we are told by the historian, continued to his day, after the lapse of a century and a half, to be a universally popular favorite-is very nearly such English as was written in the fourteenth century. This fragment is as follows:

That is literally:

Merie sungen the munneches binnen Ely
Tha Cnut Ching rew there by;

Roweth, cnihtes, noer the land,

And here we thes muneches saeng.

Merrily (sweetly) sung the monks within Ely
(When) that Canute king rowed thereby:
Row, Knights, near the land,

And hear we these monks' song.

Being in verse and in rhyme, it is probable that the words are reported in their original form; they cannot, at any rate, be much altered.-Literature and Learning of England. By G. L. Craik, M.A.

The Danes were, in general, the destroyers of learning at this period; nearly all the monasteries and schools connected with them throughout the kingdom being either actually laid in ashes by these Northern invaders, or deserted in the general terror and destruction occasioned by their attacks. Under Canute, who was a wise as well as a powerful sovereign, the schools destroyed during the Danish wars, no doubt, rose again and flourished.

THE EARLIEST BOOKS.

Staves, or rods of wood, appear to have preceded the introduction of school-books; for the Egyptian papyrus was rarely to be obtained in Europe, and parchment or vellum was too costly for